“H…How…”
“How am I alive?” said Clover with a smirk, “well as you can see, I’m not a silly little unicorn anymore, I found a way to ascend, no thanks to you.”
Luna took a step forward, causing Clover to back away, which caused Luna to look hurt.
“I…” started Clover, “I am sorry Luna, but none of you were the ones I came to see, I came to help my daughter.”
Everypony looked confused for a moment, till suddenly Celestia looked toward Twilight and then back at Clover. “No…you can’t mean…that’s not possible.”
“I am afraid it is, and I am in no mood to explain how, so if you will just let me near her…”
A feral hiss escaped Anthra, her fur standing on end as she bared her teeth at the alicorn, her wings spread wide and her legs held in a defensive stance as she spoke. “You will not go anywhere near her vile temptress, I don’t care what claim you…”
Anthra suddenly stopped as she was picked up in Clovers magic, and before the other three could move, she trapped them all in magic bubbles, sighing a bit as she walked toward Twilight’s bed. “What about what I said made you think I was in the mood to sit around and wait, now if you will kindly wait, I have a something I need to fix.”
She moved to the bed, leaning down next to it and then lighting up her horn, her dark blue magic washing over Twilight as she began to hum a little toon, Twilight beginning to stir till finally she opened her eyes, turning to look at Clover who smiled at her.
“Hello my darling, it is good to see you after so long being apart.”
“Who…who are you?” asked Twilight, her eyes a bit blurry as the mare before her chuckled.
“Sweetheart, even after all these years, I thought you would recognize the voice of your own mother.”
Twilight’s eyes bulged at that, causing the mare to come into focus, as well as the trapped princesses and two changeling queens. “What are you doing to the princesses!?”
Clover sighed, “My darling they were not going to let me near you, and I needed to fix what your fa…what was done to you by my mate. If I did not, his voice would have driven you mad, for you are not ready for its touch.”
“Don’t call me that, I’m not your…you’re not my mother!”
Clover simply smirked, pulling a thin blade out from under her wing and picking herself, and then Twilight, Twilight hissing in pain as Clover conjured up a strange looking bubble and put a drop of hers and Twilight’s blood inside. “Now Twilight, I’m sure a mare of your learning will know what this spell is.”
“Yes I do, but it won’t prove anything, other than you are not my mother.”
Clover smirked, and then activated the key part of the spell, the two droplets beginning to merge together as the magic began its work. From what Twilight had red about the spell, if it worked, the blood would merge together and begin to glow with rainbow light, showing that the two were relate, while turning dark if they were not. So it was much to Twilight’s shock when the blood merged and began to glow, showing that Clover was at least related to her.
“This…this can’t be possible!”
“I’m afraid it is,” said Clover simply, walking up to the young mare and placing a wing upon her back. “I…I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I am your mother Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight finally looked away from the spell, looking at the mare before speaking up, “Who are you?”
“I am Clover the Clever, alicorn of knowledge and fate, and last surviving founder of Equestria.”
Twilight stared slack jawed, and then jumped when a resounding crack sounded through the room, Clover looking to see Anthra doing her best to break through the bubble she was trapped in.
“Seriously Anthra,” said Clover with a smirk, “I am trying to have a meaningful moment with my daughter, surely you can understand…”
“Let her go.”
Clover looked at Twilight in confusion, “You see the way she is snarling at my right, do you really think it is wise to release her?”
“If you really are my mother, and if you…if you really want to form some sort of relationship with me, then you will let her and the others go.”
Clover stood there a moment, and then sighed, ending her spell and readying herself as Anthra fell to the floor.
However, much to her relief, Anthra simply snarled in anger, exiting the room with Chrysalis following closely behind, while the two princesses simply stood there as Clover looked to them.
“Well, I suppose you all have some questions, maybe we should…retire to some place better suited, and with some chairs.”
Twilight’s mind was in turmoil as she sat in one the living rooms many comfy chairs, thoughts weaving in and out as she tried to process the fact that she, in some way, was related to Clover the Clever.
When they were all seated, Clover made a clicking sound in her throat, and much to Twilight’s surprise, one of her guards walked over, looking a little shocked as she spoke to the alicorn. “Um, yes miss, what do you want?”
“Could you please go and locate Twilight Velvet and Nightlight and bring them here please, for I need to have words with them.”
The changeling hesitated, looking to Twilight for help, which caused her to nod and allowed her to leave.
“So, while we wait for me, I assume you two have some questions regarding…well me.”
Luna nodded, “of course we do, for the last we remember seeing of you you were an old mare, and…and now you’re…you’re an alicorn, how can this be possible?”
“With much effort, and old magic, magic I was only able to access thanks to…well, I would rather not say for now. Suffice it to say I managed to figure out how to ascend without the need for risky rituals or long drawn out spells.”
“And where have you been,” asked Celestia, her eyes looking pleadingly at the mare, which caused Twilight some confusion.
“I am afraid I can’t say at the moment, too much of what I have worked on would be jeopardized if you…came snooping about.”
“So you admit your hiding something.”
“Actually I am hiding someone,” said Clover, “Twilight’s father to be exact, after all who knows how the world would react if they heard such a thing as a male alicorn exists.”
Celestia and Luna both looked shocked by this, but before they could respond, the doors opened and Nightlight and Velvet walked in, only to stop as they saw the mare sitting near Twilight.
“Ah, just the two ponies I wanted to…”
“YOU!” yelled Velvet, walking up to the mare and slapping her across the face, before grabbing her by the scruff of her neck as she spoke. “Where is she, where is the daughter you stole from me!”
“…M…mom?”
Velvet froze then, turning to see Twilight staring at her in horror.
“Tw…Twilight I…”
“You knew,” said Twilight, her voice carrying a bight to it as she began to glare at her mother. “You knew I wasn’t yours this entire time, and you didn’t tell me, why!?”
“Twilight…we wanted to tell you, we really did, but…”
“But, but what!?”
Clover cleared her throat, causing attention to be brought back to her as she spoke up. “I am afraid that is my doing, for they caught me in…well in the act of leaving with their daughter. I was forced to place a geas upon them, to prevent them from telling anypony about your true origins, as well as keeping the fact that I…took their real child away from them.”
“…Why…why would you do that?” asked Twilight, “I’m your daughter, didn’t…didn’t you want to take care of me?”
“Of course I did,” said Clover, “but you couldn’t stay with us…your destiny lay within Canterlot, and I couldn’t risk staying with you in disguise, for…for they would have sensed me and found me out. However, now that you know, and if you will allow it, I would like the chance to come visit you…and get to know you if I can.”
She saw that Twilight wasn’t ready to speak yet, so she then turned to Velvet, who was still glaring at her. “As for you Miss Velvet, I am sorry that I forced you to suffer through having your child stolen, no mother should ever have to experience that pain. As compensation, I will be sending for your daughter to come here and spend time with you, and hopefully you can begin connecting with her as well.”
With that said, she got up, and began walking to the door, only to be stopped as Celestia rose to her hooves. “Where are you going?”
“I am returning home, I have said all I need to say, Twilight needs time to think of her answer, and I am expected back home.”
“But you can’t leave!”
That got an eyebrow raise from clover, “And why not?”
“Because you just revealed that there is a living male alicorn,” said Luna as she stood next to her sister, “he may be the first of his kind, and no matter what you say, we need to meet him and learn about him.”
“…No.”
“Clover…”
“I SAID NO!” yelled Clover, causing everypony to jump, “It has taken me a thousand years to even get him comfortable with my presence, and I will not see you destroy what progress he has made just so you can study him!”
“Be that as it may,” said Celestia, “we at least a way to confirm that he exists, and until you agree to at least that, we cannot let you leave.”
That got a smirk, “and what makes you think you can keep me here?”
“Well I know I can’t,” said Celestia with her own smirk, “But you never could withstand Luna’s mind magic, and something tells me that hasn’t changed.”
Clover looked from her to Luna, gulping as she realized how problematic this situation was. Sure, her beloved had done her best to train her to better defend herself against mind magic, but she was only adept enough to defend herself against low level practitioners, and even before her disappearance, Luna had known every back door and loophole mind magic was capable of, to the point that if she so desired, she could probably get Clover to believe she was a rubber chicken lost in Saddle Arabia.
So with a sigh, she spoke, “Very well, but only if you agree to my terms.”
“Name them.”
“First,” said Clover, “I want Princess Cadenza summoned here, for she is the only one I will allow into my home.”
“Very well,” said Celestia.
“Second, when she gets here, she must agree to be placed under a geas.”
That got a look from Luna, “what sort of geas?”
“One that will make sure she can only tell you about the male alicorn, who he is, and that he indeed exists, while making sure she can’t tell you about my home, where it is, or about the ponies I have living there.”
“That seems a bit extreme Clover,” said Luna.
“Those are my terms,” said Clover, “agree to them, or we are done here.”
The two princesses hesitated, and then Celestia leaned to whisper into Luna’s ear, Luna listening intently before nodding her head and speaking to Clover, “Very well Clover, we agree to your terms, and shall send for Cadance at one, how may we reach you when she arrives.”
“Seeing as how I am going to have to wait for her arrival, I shall wait here, I’ll just have one of my daughters changelings arrange a guest room for me.”
She then turned to look at Twilight, her horn lighting as a crystal floated out of her mane to lie in front of Twilight’s hooves, the mare looking up in surprise at her as Clover spoke. “When you are ready to give me your answer, just whisper my name into the crystal, and I shall come to you.”
With that she turned and left, leaving them alone as Nightlight and Velvet looked to Twilight with concern, ignoring the two princesses as the huddled and whispered silently.
“Honey,” said Nightlight as Twilight stared down at the crystal before her hooves, “are you going to be ok?”
“I…I don’t know…” said Twilight, not looking away from the crystal as she spoke. “It’s just…how am I supposed to cope with this, I mean Clover the Clever is my mother, that’s not just something you can accept!”
“I…” stated Nightlight, only to stop as he turned to his wife, looking pleadingly toward her. Getting the message, moved up beside Twilight and placed a comforting hoof on her before speaking.
“Honey, while we can’t begin to understand what this must be like, me and Nightlight want you to know that we still see you as our daughter, no matter how you came into our lives. And…despite what she has done, I think…I think you should at least try and give her a chance.”
“…Like you will your daughter...?”
That got a flinch from Velvet, but she nodded all the same. “Yes Twilight, we will, but can you blame us…I mean, I still see you as my daughter Twilight, but I have…I have always hoped that one day I would find her.”
Twilight nodded at that, then turned and hugged them both, holding them tight as she spoke, “no matter what, you’re still my parents…even…even if things do end up going well with…with her…”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Nightlight.
They all looked up then when the heard a throat clear behind them, and saw Luna standing behind them alone, as Celestia was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Celestia,” asked Twilight.
“She had to retire, for this experience has worn on her a great deal,” said Luna. “As for me, I must be going as well, for we still have the changeling rumors to look into.”
“I think I need to rest as well,” said Twilight, “this…this has just been too much…”
“I understand,” said Luna, “and fear not, we shall insure you receive a dreamless sleep once you pass within our realm.”
With that, Luna vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind a shaken but stronger family.
“I just hope their bonds can survive…whatever the hell this situation is we have found ourselves in.”